Art Spiegelman interpreted the Holocaust from a child’s perspective
Clip: 4/15/2025 | 1m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
Art Spiegelman’s “Li’l Pitcher” comic depicted the Holocaust from a child’s perspective.
Art Spiegelman’s “Li’l Pitcher” comic depicts a young boy who learns about the horrors of the Holocaust while listening to his parents’ conversation during a car ride.
Support for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo...
Art Spiegelman interpreted the Holocaust from a child’s perspective
Clip: 4/15/2025 | 1m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
Art Spiegelman’s “Li’l Pitcher” comic depicts a young boy who learns about the horrors of the Holocaust while listening to his parents’ conversation during a car ride.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- Piles isn't the same thing as archiving, (chuckles) I've now discovered.
I grew up with just shards of information.
There's such a thing as Hitler and there's such a thing as World War II and there were concentration camps and somehow my parents were in them.
They had these numbers on their arms, and my father would wake up screaming often.
Yet I didn't have a context for all this.
"Li'l Pitcher."
- Washington Heights, New York City, a hired car ride home, circa 1954.
- Those little V's represent translated text was showing that the characters were speaking Polish.
- What a fancy affair!
Everybody was invited, even Janek.
- Yes, but nobody would sit near him.
- My parents always spoke Polish to each other.
- Brr, poor guy.
- Huh, who's Janek?
- So, the pitcher with a big ear is listening.
- Why don't people sit with him?
- In Auschwitz, he was a sonderkommando.
He threw Jews into the oven.
- Why?
- If not, the Germans will throw him in the ovens.
- So it wasn't his fault, right?
- Yeah, but it's rumors he put to the ovens his wife and his son.
So nobody wants to sit.
- Take a nap again, Cookie.
It's still a long drive and we're just having grownup talk.
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse
Video has Closed Captions
Explore the career of cartoonist Art Spiegelman and his award-winning graphic novel Maus. (2m)
Art Spiegelman wrote this comic about his family’s experiences on 9/11
Video has Closed Captions
Art Spiegelman later depicted the Twin Towers falling in his comic, “In the Shadow of No Towers.” (1m 21s)
The double meaning behind Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”
Video has Closed Captions
“Maus” was about Art Spiegelman’s father’s experiences in the Holocaust and their relationship. (1m 57s)
How Art Spiegelman got involved in the world of underground comix
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Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” was featured in the comic book “Funny Aminals” in 1972. (1m 40s)
One of the most important pages of Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”
Video has Closed Captions
In this segment of “Maus,” Art Spiegelman illustrated four Jewish victims hung by Nazis in Poland. (2m 6s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Support for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo...